Chester · S42 7NN · 4-bed
Firvale Road, Walton, S42
© OpenStreetMap · click to open in maps
Asking price
£250,000
£272/sqft · EPC E
Verdict
Worth a closer look — area data is mixed
What you could do with it
Estimated gross yields from current rental comps. Numbers are pre-cost — service, voids, mortgage, management still come off these.
Standard BTL
£1,850/mo
8.9% gross yield
Open-market tenant on a 12-month AST.
HMO (rooms)
Best fit£2,700/mo
13.0% gross yield
4–6 individual tenants, shared living. Highest yield, most management.
LHA / Section 8
£947/mo
4.5% gross yield
Council-paid tenant. Stable rent, longer tenancies, slight discount to market.
Council lease
£805/mo
3.9% gross yield
3–5 yr guaranteed-rent lease to a housing association. Hands-off.
Who is this for?
Quick read across the buyer personas. ✅ = good fit · ⚠ = workable with caveats · ❌ = look elsewhere.
Family home
4-bed but EPC E — factor retrofit cost or budget for it.
Standard BTL
8.9% gross — clears typical 5%+ break-even threshold.
HMO (rooms)
13.0% HMO yield, no Article 4 — strong on paper.
Buy + rent later
Rents would more than cover BTL mortgage costs if life changes.
The numbers
England (SDLT) · 75% LTV mortgage at 5.5% over 25 years (capital repayment).
Stamp duty
First-time buyer
£0
Home mover
£0
2nd home / BTL
£12,500
Mortgage @ 75% LTV
- Loan
- £187,500
- Deposit
- £62,500
- Per month
- £1,151
Cash you'd need to walk in (deposit + investor SDLT, before legal/survey): £75,000
Should you pay this?
City-wide stats vary too much within the 4-bed homes segment to give you a confident £ comparison. A 4-bed home in a quieter postcode can sit £200k+ apart from one in a hot postcode just down the road.
Before bidding: walk the street, pull HM Land Registry sold prices for this postcode sector, and check what genuinely-similar homes have actually transacted at over the last 12 months.
What it'd rent for
£1,850/month8.88% gross yield
Based on 217 live rentals in Chester · 4-bed homes here average £2,640/mo.
Most landlords need 5%+ gross to break even after costs in this area, so this is a decent fallback if your plans shift.
Property features
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Loading nearby sold…
5-year price trend
Crime risk
Flood risk
Schools & Ofsted
Catchment area is the #1 driver of family-let demand and exit liquidity in the suburbs. Verify the local primary + secondary ratings before offering — an Outstanding catchment can add 5–10% to £/sqft; Inadequate is a permanent drag.
- All schools within 2 miles (DfE GIAS) — official register, last Ofsted, type
- Ofsted reports for S42 7NN — full inspection reports + history
- Catchment visualiser (Locrating) — free-tier school-catchment map
Catchments aren't published nationally; many schools use distance-from-school as the deciding factor. The links above give you the official data; only the local authority can confirm a specific year's catchment boundary.
HMO licensing
No curated HMO data for this area. Most UK councils run mandatory licensing for 5+ sharers (statutory) plus area-specific additional / selective schemes. Verify with the local authority before completing a purchase.
Area pulse
- 7,601 new listings here in the last month — good comparable supply.
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